Jimm Phillips

House Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., pressed the FCC to “take a more measured approach to the 5.9 GHz band” during President Joe Biden’s administration due to ongoing concerns about the commission’s November vote to reallocate the frequency for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything (see 2011180043). Some House Armed Services Committee members, meanwhile, emphasized during a Friday hearing the need for solutions to ensure DOD is able to maintain spectrum superiority over other nations for warfare purposes, while also allowing for telecom companies to gain access to more frequencies for commercial use.

Senate Homeland Security Committee leaders said they’re interested in pursuing a major overhaul of the federal government’s cyberattack response process following the Russia-linked SolarWinds hack and other recent incidents, during a Thursday hearing. Panel Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., and ranking member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also want a clearer sense of what federal official should ultimately be deemed responsible if hackers infiltrate government networks as happened in the SolarWinds incident.

Senate Commerce Committee members delivered the opening salvos in what’s expected to be a vigorous debate over what Congress should include in a broadband title in coming infrastructure legislation, during a Wednesday hearing, as expected (see 2103160001). Committee Republicans cited lingering concerns about the speed of federal work to improve broadband coverage data, after an FCC announcement that it believes improved broadband coverage data maps won’t be available until at least late 2022 (see 2102170052).

Senate Commerce Committee members are expected to spar over the size and scope of a hoped-for broadband title in coming infrastructure legislation during a Wednesday hearing on federal connectivity programs (see 2103150054). Lawmakers more broadly are sizing up the prospect that an infrastructure spending package of the scope envisioned by President Joe Biden and some congressional Democrats may move only if they advance it using the same budget reconciliation mechanism that just enacted the American Rescue Plan Act without GOP buy-in (see 2103110037).

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she doesn’t believe reports President Joe Biden plans to nominate Columbia Law School’s Lina Khan for an FTC seat (see 2103090057) mean the administration is prioritizing filling that commission’s slots at the expense of the FCC's. Cantwell and other Democrats have pressed Biden to name a permanent FCC chair and a Democratic nominee to fill a vacant seat to establish a 3-2 majority (see 2102050064). “I wouldn’t read one” nomination announcement as coming at the expense of ushering in a Democratic FCC majority, Cantwell said. “All of the information age issues are voluminous” and require good nominees at the FCC and FTC, she said. She hadn’t received official word. Cantwell told us she also hasn’t recommended anyone for the FCC chair or vacant seat. “I’d be happy with” retaining acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel as permanent head, but she hasn’t recommended Biden choose her at the expense of other candidates, Cantwell said.

Congressional Democrats refiled a pair of multibillion-dollar broadband funding proposals Thursday -- the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (HR-1783) and Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act amid a rising push for infrastructure spending legislation, as expected (see 2103030063). The proposals' return came ahead of President Joe Biden’s Thursday night speech marking the one-year anniversary of widespread pandemic-related shutdowns, which some expect will include an unveiling of his plans for an infrastructure spending package. Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act package (HR-1319) earlier in the day, with emergency broadband money (see 2103110037).

President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319) Thursday, a day earlier than expected. Biden’s signoff formally allocates some $7-plus billion for emergency E-rate remote learning, along with additional amounts for state-level broadband projects and emergency CPB funding.

The House voted 220-211 Wednesday to approve Senate-passed changes to the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package (HR-1319), paving the way for emergency E-rate remote learning money. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill Friday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. It includes $7.17 billion for E-rate, $10 billion for state-level broadband and other infrastructure projects, and $175 million for CPB (see 2103080057). Deputy commerce secretary nominee Don Graves, meanwhile, cited his interest in increasing rural broadband deployments during a Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing.

The House appears poised to agree later this week to Senate-passed changes to the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package, which includes emergency broadband and CPB funding. The Senate passed its amended version of HR-1319 Saturday 50-49 after a protracted floor battle in which Republicans proposed but ultimately didn’t seek votes on almost two dozen telecom amendments, as expected (see 2103030063). Telecom-focused Capitol Hill Republicans, meanwhile, pressed the FCC to explain why it now believes improved broadband coverage data maps won’t be available until at least late 2022 (see 2102170052).

Former President Donald Trump criticized Rivada Networks’ support for the U.S. government to make spectrum reserved for 5G available to carriers on wholesale, drawing pushback from the company. Trump’s Thursday criticism of Rivada came via a statement from his Save America PAC that hit back at company adviser and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove over a Wall Street Journal opinion piece in which he panned Trump’s Conservative Political Action Conference speech. Rove “has been losing for years, except for himself,” Trump said. He “came to the Oval Office lobbying for 5G for him and a group. After a lengthy discussion with Rove and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, I said no, they’re not qualified. Our Nation can do much better!” Rove registered in 2019 as a lobbyist for Rivada amid public attention focused on the company’s wholesale push (see 1904220024). Trump’s reelection campaign in August said his second-term agenda would include a push for building a “National High-Speed Wireless Internet Network,” which officials compared to Rivada’s proposal (see 2008270051). Rivada during the Trump administration “advocated for, and still" supports a request for proposals "to determine the best way to share DOD spectrum between military and commercial uses,” a spokesperson said. “An open and competitive RFP would have determined who was qualified or not, but the previous administration never issued one. Nor did [Trump] take any other steps to allocate or share most of the DOD-controlled mid-band spectrum. We are hopeful that the current administration can do much better.”